Dela nyhet
First Final
29 sep 2018 0 kommentarer
Pingvin fought back courageously to keep the deficit to 7 points for the second final next week. At one stage Exiles looked like running away with it, leading 22 - 3 at 47”, but Pingvin came back to make it 18 - 25 at the close.
Exiles made a few changes to their announced team when Rikus had to withdraw. Bevo also stood down and Theo moved to prop. This gave space for Sami in the back row while Dustin and Ash came into the backs.
Exiles started at 100 mph and were 12 - 0 up after 14”. Green got back 3 points in one of very few outings to the Exiles half while Jack added a penalty to make it 15 - 3 after 19”. Exiles continued to press and dominate completely but too many backs tried for another score without giving the final decisive pass. It remained 15 - 3 at the break. Pingvin´s pack was on the back foot losing yards at every put-in while Exiles also dominated the lineouts with Sean outstanding. Exiles were still attacking after the break and Neets got over after they parked on the Pingvin line. Exiles continued the offensive but Pingvin fought back and Noel Strandquist had an easy run-in and the conversion made it 22 - 10. Then it was Jack again for 25 - 10. Another penalty for Pingvin while Jack missed one in the swirling wind, the kind he normally converts. That made it 25 - 13 with 13” to go and Exiles with many substitutions were not moving quite so fluently. With 5” to go Pingvin deservedly got another try after continuously attacking but the conversion was missed. Pingvin then launched a final attack on 80” which was extended for another five minutes as they got five penalties in a row. Exiles held firm, however, and go into the second game with a 7 point advantage.
Exiles conceded 7 penalties in the first half and 9 in the second; for Pingvin it was 5 and 4 respectively. I still feel that 16 + 9 penalties is too many, but on the whole the referee handled the game well.
Theo had another fine game both as prop and driving running while Neets, Sami and Sean were outstanding in attack and defence. If Exiles are just a little bit sharper they can win comfortably next week, but Pingvin will have other thoughts about that matter.
Kommentarer